The Artemis II mission is already rewriting the rules of space exploration, and now, it’s delivering some of the most breathtaking images yet, captured on the iPhone 17 Pro Max.
NASA has shared a series of images showing astronauts Christina Koch and Reid Wiseman inside the Orion spacecraft, with Earth glowing in the background.
What makes these photos even more remarkable is how they were captured.
Metadata from NASA’s archive confirms that the images were shot using the front-facing (selfie) camera of the iPhone 17 Pro Max on April 2 — just the second day of the mission.
As the Orion spacecraft sped away from Earth at thousands of miles per hour, the astronauts used a device most people carry in their pockets to document a once-in-a-lifetime perspective.
Reid Wiseman, the mission commander, also shared images on social media, summing up the experience in just four words: “There are no words.”
And it’s hard to disagree.
The fact that these images were captured on an iPhone 17 Pro Max says a lot about how far smartphone cameras have come. What was once considered everyday tech is now capable of documenting humanity’s most ambitious missions.
By the time the astronauts loop around the Moon and head back, they will have travelled farther from Earth than any humans in history, approximately 252,757 miles (406,773 km).
The 10-day mission was launched on April 1, 2026.
